Report 2015

The report of the meeting on 26/12/2015

Four members took part in the last meeting in 2015.

The first session was “What’s new ” as usual. Many talks were related to the particular things to this period.
The first person has finished the year-end cleaning-up in cooperation with his family. His main responsibility was the task on the lightning equipment on the ceiling. Initially he thought he cleaned up several pieces of the equipment, but he changed his mind to replace the present one, fluorescent light, to LED light for several reasons such as energy efficiency or countermeasure against the global warming.
The next attendee has successfully completed writing, printing out and posting New -Year cards. She made about 25 cards. It took her around 6 hours to finish it because the ink of a printer run out and she went to a shop to buy it. She also celebrated the Christmas day to eat German cake and give her husband the Christmas gift which is the mug with some famous anime-character on its surface.
For the third speaker, it is the custom on the Christmas day that she and her family make rice cake. This season is quite busy to prepare the New Year for females. As Japanese tradition the big clean-up of house is one of the tasks at the end of year, and in addition to that house wives usually cook some dishes for the New Year day. One of the special dishes for the New Year day is ”Kazunoko” or herring roe. She made the special meal using it.
The last person talked about the year-end party he had joined. He is a member of the English conversation circle in his living area. The circle holds the party almost every year. He and others enjoyed chatting very much even though the number of attendees was bit less than usually. The topics at the party cover a wide rage form political issues to cultural differences between Japan and Australia.

The second session was related to the recycling or reusing.
Firstly we read the English article and translated it into Japanese. Amazon.com introduced the new idea to reduce the packaging around 7 years ago. Till then the Amazon used lots of stuff for packaging such as plastics bindings, foam and wire, which sometimes took its customers a long time for unwrapping, and caused the “wrap rage” and injuries. The customers had experienced strong anger and frustration to over-wrapping.
On the basis of the article we talked how to reuse or recycle the stuffs which are no longer used. Some examples of the stuffs are as follows; a large mirror, dining table, surfboard, a wooden door. Each speaker selected two items and made their own stories about how to reuse them.

Our group welcomed several newcomers this year, and the number of regular members increased a bit. I wish that we would have more members the next year, who are enthusiastic to study English.

Have a happy new year to all !!
(Taka)

The report of the meeting on 19/12/2015

Five members attended this class.

First of all, each member talked about what they had done and happened specially.
The first person wrote New Year cards, and then, he told about the difference of the greeting sentence. For example, “A happy New Year”, or I wish you Happy New Year, etc.
The second one told that he devoted entirely to studying English. His target goal was 900 points. He started to study for the test 7 years ago. The test day will be held in one month. The other members sent him a yell.
The third one admired his effort. Then, he told that after he could solve three issues, he had peace in his mind and enjoyed a beer break nowadays. The issues were having sold his old house, having made a tomb for his mother, having solved the succession to property.
The fourth one went to Hiroshima prefecture to see her father. After taking care of his daily necessity work instead of him, then she went to a cinema house. She appreciated the good movie in Hiroshima.
The fifth one cleaned around house because the professional gardener visited to cut pine trees and some other trees. The next day, she went to hospital with her husband as usual. Fortunately the result of his lung cancer was good. So they had peace in mind so much. Then, she sent Christmas card and the applications of my number card.

We started the topic of rice. The first person told that the rice cultivated at the biggest lake area was good taste. The second one told that the rice came into his mind TPP. It was getting worse, and the rice decreasing. It was a big problem that the cheap rice came into Japan from Australia and U.S. It gave us a big impact, but the cooked rice is safe food, and the warm rice boiled by a pressure cooker was good taste. The other one told that the rice came into his mind as a principal food for Japanese. TPP is a negotiation. The rice is natural food, but the bread is not natural, because it is added some various materials to process. The other one told that the rice came into her mind a monsoon region. The monsoon climate is suitable for cultivating the rice.
2). One person told that the boiling rice had fitted eating hot rice with a raw egg stirred in. So, the cooked rice was the best food for him. Especially, the warm rice which cooked a brand rice “Kosihikari” by a pressure cooker. The next one told that the pressure cooker was better than the electric cooker. According to his idea, the pressure cooker is cheap, and can finish boiling at 10 minutes and still have good taste. The third one told that he preferred to eat a Doria, a Paella, and a Chinese rice food. Those dishes were better meals for him. The fourth one told that she liked the rice called “Koshihikari”. The fifth one told that the new harvest rice had good taste.
3). The first one told that cultivating rice and potato influence the climate so much. The cultivation of the potato is suitable in Andes, German, and Ireland. The rice is cultivated in the monsoon area. The other one told that potato was cheap, but he does not know which one was better the rice or the potato. The rice contains a carbohydrate. The rice was better than the potato of the sub-dishes. After all, Rice is popular food.
4). Each person answered the rice products made from by processing rice. For example, rice cracker, rice porridge, Doria, Sushi roll, the starch( for cleaning), and glue.
That all
(Tae)

The report of the meeting on 12/12/2015

There were six attendees at the meeting on December 12.
First, we talked freely about what's new, or how your week was. They are summarized as follows:
1) A member talked about his 4-year-old cute granddaughter living in anther town. He attended the play recital held in her kindergarten. Her role was a fox.
2) Another's week was very busy. She saw two movies at the theater on different days, "the Turkish marine peril in 1889", and "Chiune Sugihara" a Japanese diplomat to Lithuania during World War II, who issued many visas so that thousands of Jewish people could go to other countries through Japan for avoiding Nazi persecution. She also listened to "the Ninth Symphony of Beethoven" at Nagoya by the chorus which her brother belongs to. And she had to buy a new washing machine, because her old one was broken.
3) Another went to Tokyo to attend his friend's photo exhibition, because he received an invitation from his elementary school alumni, a professional photographer. He also went and check condition of his apartment house which once his parents owned, and talked with a rental apartment agency about managing apartment.
4) Another went bowling, because he had no work that day. It was the first time in ten years for him to play bowls. In Kyoto, some bowling alleys offer old people a discounted fee of 400 yen including 2 games, shoes, etc. That day his score was 250 points. Playing bowls requires a lot of energy, so it would be a good exercise.
5) Another has been studying English very hard, because he has a plan to take a TOEIC test next coming January. He wants to get a high score, over 900 points. He will also take a test of Certified Professional Translator Test. He wants to upgrade his certification. He also talked about his attendance at the year-end meeting of the local English circle, which reminded him of his misfortune three yeas ago. He was infected by norovirus just after attending the year-end meeting that year. He had to frequently go to the bathroom.
6) The other attended the off-line English circle's Christmas meeting, where she played a few pieces of Christmas music on the ocarina with her friend. Other members sang the songs together. After the meeting, she enjoyed buffet style lunch.

Next we moved to Today's topic, "Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan will Donate Almost All Their Facebook Shares". First we read and translated the article by sentence, and then we answered some questions provided. By the way, in the article, there is a difficult sentence to translate. It is as follows: Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, plan to give away 99% of their Facebook shares for charitable purposes, Zuckerberg said Tuesday in a Facebook post. "The news comes as the couple also announced the birth of their first child, a daughter named Max." How do you translate the sentence in " "? Some members take "the couple" as "Mark and Priscilla", and translate like "The news appears when Mark and Priscilla also announced....". And others take "the couple" as "those news about their donation and about the birth of their baby", and translate like "The news appears in pairs with...". What about your opinion?
(Yuki)

The report of the meeting on 05/12/2015

There were four attendees in all for today's lesson.
The following items were talked for our individual topics this week :
First attendee went on shopping to Kyoto city for electrical parts, stores being crowded with peoples including Chinese shightseeing customers. They seemed to buy a lot of Japanese goods like electrical apparatuses like rice cookers and grocery items for souvenir, but its trend for their buying a lot was somewhat carmed down a little bit, he felt.
Second one spent this week not especially different as summerized like going to beauty parlor for having hair cut ,making preparation for the new year card and enjoying tea ceremony with her friends .
Third one received the result of her physical check up and worried about the measured value of LDL(bad cholesterol) exceeding normal criteria .
Fourth one had to bring down his old hous to meet with the contract for seling the real estate. He had something sad feeling to watch his old house being torned down by wrekker agent for clearing the land, because he had a lot of memories living there for more than 30 years with his family members.
Regarding Today's topic: Coffee can help you live longer Task1 : Each sentence was red and translated into Japanese one by one. Task 2: Attendees expressed their own opinion to the questions and other opinions and counter comments given therby were discussed . ( We did'nt have enough time to complete all questions but upto No. 3.)
(Jun)

The report of the meeting on 28/11/2015

We had five participants today. Hereis a summary of each session.

	Session 1　what’s new
A	He took part in the reunion meeting of his previous company. It takes place annually. He is really looking forward to meeting his ex-coworkers and bosses. His previous company serves delicious meals and souvenir. Topics talked there were each health condition or grandchildren.
B	She updated operation system from Windows 7 to Windows 10 successfully. It took her long hours. When she completed installation, it was 3:30 am. The reason for the urgent upgrading to Windows 10 is that the support service to Windows 7 by Microsoft is supposed to finish in the near future. Anyway congratulations for successful installation of the latest OS.
C	He gave us two topics. One of them is about a professional soccer team in Shizuoka prefecture, Jubilo Iwata, which belongs to J2 league. Happily it left good result in the match this year, so it is going to come back to J1 league. Another topic he talked about was “Yuru-chara” or anime-style cartoon mascots. There is held the Yuru-chara contest every year in order to select the best one of Yuru-chara. This year the mascot of Hamamatsu city in Shizuoka pref. won the first prize. It is named “Ieyasu-ku”.
D	She attended a gathering to exchange ideas or opinion about some book. She walked a lot to reach the venue. She walked over an hour, which was really good exercise. The book picked up was titled “生きづらさからの脱却: アドラーに学ぶ” written by Ichiro Kishimi. She exercised not only physically bus also spiritually that day.
E	He had a plan to talk about the wearable computer, or the smart fabric which enables our clothes function as a touch panel. Now main materials of the touch panel are glass or plastic. Google is planning develop the touch panel made from fabric. However time was short, so he skipped his story.

	Second session Today’s topic Select one picture from below and write a biography about them. 1 Vladimir Lenin　2 Franklin D. Roosevelt　3 Louis XVI　4 Abraham Lincoln 5 Wright brothers　6 Marie Antoinette　7 Albert Einstein　8 John F Kennedy
A	He picked up No 8. He is John F Kennedy. However he talked about his father, Joseph Kennedy and stormy lives of his and his families’. His eldest son, JFK was assassinated by someone after he became the president in USA. This is the most famous, mysterious and tragic story. However, some his family also ended their lives with violent death.
B	She selected picture No 5. Her story was as follows; the relationship of two men is a father and his son. They were born in England. They were rich, so they could enjoy golf. They played it both in winter and summer for keeping fitness. They established many golf courses. In addition to construction of golf course, they raised the social position of golf.
C	He talked about the life of Marie Antoinette. (See picture No 6.) His story was almost based on the historical facts. He introduced some episodes about Marie Antoinette; she got married with Louis XVI as a marriage of convenience, or she wasted huge amount of money, so French citizens hated her and finally she was beheaded with the guillotine.
D	She chose the picture No 1. Her story was based on the life of Joseph Stalin and added several fictions of her own. The man on the picture was born in Georgia in 19 century. His father was a shoemaker. He was smart and dreamed to be a priest, therefor he studied very hard. However he failed to be the priest and from then on his life changed dramatically. He changed many jobs, in which a bank robber was included. In some period he was in jail. These experiences brought him luck. He finally climbed up the top position of Soviet Union.
E	He picked up the picture No 5. His story was an entirlly original one by his own. Two men were born in US in the mid of 17th century. Their live changed dramatically when their father was killed by two burglars. They promised themselves that they would arrest two criminals and avenge their father’s death. Ten years passed since the father’s murder, and at last they succeeded in arresting the criminals.

(Taka)

The report of the meeting on 21/11/2015

There were four attendees.
Today’s topic was about Influence vaccine.
First of all, we talked the personal happening of this week each other. The first person spent busy week, because she attended her daughter’s legal parents’ association, and she also went to hospital to see her mother because her mother has been admitted for illness.
The second one told that he did not do anything specially. He went swimming. In his region, a senior citizen more than 70 years old is given the priority which can use the pool. So, swimming is happy thing for him, but he felt that he got weaker for aging, because children and young people can swim vigorously and speedily with basic skill there. When he was a child, he learned how to swim only himself, but children and young people these days are already taught the fundamental swimming technique. Therefore, they can swim speedily and sophisticatedly. He swims 3km without a rest a day. Also, he walked at the river bank near his house the other day. Along the bank, there were planted beautiful flowers like guardian dahlias.
The next one told she likes swimming, and she can swim 1 km. But there was one who could not swim at all. So, she has never swum so far.
The fourth one went back to his seat for having thing to do.

Then we started talking about Today’s topic, “a developing influenza vaccination of a new type”.
1). One person told that new vaccination of the long-life protection against any type of flu will be developing as soon as possible, because the flu afflicts the patients with high fever, heavy cough.
2). The other one told that he laid down for 2 days in case of catching flu. The flu afflicts with high fever, cough, diarrhea, a joint etc. Another one told that flu vaccination “Tamiflu” makes the patients mad, or gets a strange behavior, so he has so scared taking the medicine and vaccination. About flu incidence of rate, some ones did not get flu, but only one got flu once a year, and laid down for a week, or ten days to recover it. So, she always takes care enough in winter season.
3). Flu is dangerous illness, and could cause to die in the worst case. We should not think light of it.
4). One told that he was delighted to read this article, and surprised with this effective vaccine, because seventy three percent people catch flu, and it is terrible illness. All vaccines are effective against HIV, measles, whooping cough and normal cold. When they were a baby, their mother made their babies get measles, whooping cough, and a mumps vaccine. The next one told that a new drug developed, but did not be useful, because the virus is easy to mutate soon. Even if a new drug is developed, the virus is easy to mutate soon. Therefore, the scientist was difficult to find a new drug. Any scientists have not success so far.
5). Some ones had ever had a vaccine of measles, whooping cough, and tuberculin, when they were children, or babies. In case of tuberculin, a spot of vaccine festered on his shoulder, and they got uncomfortable. The other one got a pneumonia protection shot.The other one told that her daughter got a mumps vaccine.
It passed the time limit. That all.
(Tae)

The report of the meeting on 14/11/2015

There were five attendees at the meeting on November 14.
First, we talked freely about what's new, or how your week was. They are summarized as follows; The first member talked about his visit to Tamba in the middle of Hyogo prefecture. The area is a reservoir of food. He ate rice cooked with matsutake-mushrooms and beef. It was so delicious.
The second one got a blood test. Its result was worse, so she has to take medicine. She also had an influenza vaccination. Additionally she went and heard a speech by Prof. Robert Campbell, who talked about how to understand each other overcoming cultural differences, and so on.
The third one told he would sell his old house. So this week he had two tough days for breaking down unnecessary furniture in the house into pieces and sorting them, so that he could carry them to a disposal center, before demolishing the house.
The fourth one talked about his experience in the early morning two days before. While walking in a dark weather, he and his dog saw something black. They felt fear but gazed at it. Then they noticed it was a female deer.
The last one talked about a TV program of three lively elderly women: a 92-year-old world recorder in a 100 meter race, a 66-year-old super model, and a 99-year-old psychiatrist.

Next we moved to Today's topic, "Lifelong training". First we read and told meanings of words and phrases from a passage. Then, after reading and translating the passage by sentence, we answered some questions provided. Learning specific facts and calculation is important for children, and furthermore, learning how to teach themselves is also necessary to survive in an ever-changing world. Well, how do you teach yourself? See you next time.
(Yuki)

The report of the meeting on 07/11/2015

There were five attendees for today's lesson.
The following are summary of the topics for their special behavior in this week ; First attendee did'nt do anything special this week but very busy with house keeeping like washing branket, futon and carpet, disposing of sterilizer etc. Second one went on shopping for buying spare parts of ink for his printer and felt it was expensive as compared with sale price of ink built-in printer machines. Third one had driving for sight seeing to Akigawa Valley in the suburb of Tokyo. He enjoyed beautiful natural seneary and colored leaves and exploring limestone cave where the receptionist was an old lady of more than 100 years with a good personality. Fourth one brought on the arugument which is better for washing clothes, “akibare”(a fine day in Autum) or “satukibare”(a fine day in May) and the difference between the two. The last one went to see “ the Worl Cup of Street Performance of 2015” in Shizuoka city which has been gradually getting popular and popular year by year, enjoying their special performance close to them.
Regarding Today's topic: Jobless young people a big problem Task1 : Each sentence was red and translated into Japanese one by one. Task 2: Attendees expressed their own opinion to the questions and the counter comments given therby were discussed . (There was no enough time to complete all tasks but up to No.4 .)
(Jun)

The report of the meeting on 31/10/2015

We had five attendees at the session.

We started it with “What’s new. ”
The first person was so busy this week because she set a drive recorder or saw a banker two consecutive days. She got tired very much this week, so she was unable to attend the FETS- chat on Wednesday.
Another man talked about his experience about so-called selfie stick. When he was walking on the street, he suddenly felt strange thing on his back. He turned back and found that was the selfie stick. We talked about it for a while: there are pros and cons about the selfie stick. It is quite convenient when we travel alone and take pictures of ourselves. However it is dangerous in crowed places.
The third participant visited her father to check his health and everyday life, and take care of him. There was only her in the cabin of the bullet train where she seated.
The topic provided by the fourth attendees was Halloween. It means the eve of all sacred days. It has been getting popular in Japan, especially among children and young guys. Recently we can often see people in the city who are wearing Halloween costume. While this festival contributes Japanese economy, some young guys are apt to make troubles.
The chairperson have suffered from “repetitive strain injury” because he use a computer so often, click left mouse button with his right index finger so many times and turn the wheal button with the same finger. According to him, this is a kind of vocational disease which many computer programmers suffer.

Then we move on to the today’s topic; Jet-lag and sleep. After taking turn reading out and translating sentence, we expressed own ideas and discussed them.
Two out of five members had the jet-lag before. One attendee had a terrible jet-lag, after she returned to Japan from trip. She suddenly felt dizzy while she was taking English lesson at language school.
There are many causes of sleeplessness (insomnia). Too much stress might be one of them and strong light from computer or smart phone could be also responsible for insomnia.
In order to overcome or cure insomnia, someone is prescribed sleep-inducing drug by doctor, another do exercise regularly or other just wait or read difficult books until they feel sleepy.
Anyway if Jet-lag drug is put on the market, many people can enjoy a long distance journey more, or people suffering insomnia or working at irregular hours can reduce their sleep-related troubles.
(Taka)

The report of the meeting on 24/10/2015

There were five participants on October /24/ 2015. One man joined this lesson as an observer.
At first, a coordinator apologized members for her failure which she had passed over the time-table of this lesson.

Then, we talked “today’s news”, “How was this week?” each other. The summary is as follow.
The first person told about Halloween festival of the next week. That event will be held in her city. The other one replied and talked about this Halloween event which he had watched in the TV screen. According to his report, he watched people with colorful costume and strange fashion dress on the screen.
The other one told that he had a plan to buy a new car. Another man told that he did not have any special, but he showed us some photos of beautiful falls. He explained us about them, for example, two-stage fall, four-stage one and winding-slope.
The next one told about taking a walk at around the remains of Tanaka castle, Sunpu one which was famous for having gone hawking by a feudal lord,”Ieyasu”, a stone fence, ponds, and gates etc. It was said that there were many remains in connection with a feudal lord near his hometown. Also, there was a Ieyasu’s grave in Nikko and was Yosinobu’s grave in Ueno in Tokyo.

After that, we talked about today’s topic “reading” each other.
1). The first one told that her mother read a book to her child and one book was delivered to her house every month. She liked reading it, when she was a child. The second one told about Japanese literature of late famous literati,”Souseki”, “Akutagawa” etc. He made dark and had gloomy impression to read those books. Also, he add that reading make us good person and give us helpful knowledge. The third one told that he had read a book for twenty hours a day when he was a University students. Even now, he read lots of books and read over them again. The fourth person told that she had read the used school text book given by her sister and she learned how to read hiragana then.
2). The first one told that she liked reading, because her mother had read a book to her child in her childhood. So, now she read a book her children. Second one told that he had read the detective novels when he was the fifth grade of elementary school. Also, he had read a serial novel. The third one told that he had read a novel of “Alfred Bernhard Novel". So, he could know about a cause of Novel Prize. The fourth one told that she had read a school text book which her sister finished to use when she was five years old.
3). The first one told that things which she had got out of reading were imagination, knowledge, comprehension, etc. The second one told he had got benefit, how to get information, how to use tools, traveling, good advice and assistant. The third one told that he had got fun, information, and reading made him broaden. The fourth one told that she had got many things of the foreign society in past and modern time when she was middle school student and high school one.
4). The first one told that she did not have time to read, but one of her favorite book is Japanese dictionary. However, a letter of the dictionary was too small to read, so she wears glasses to read a book. The second one told that he did not have mind to read any books, because he grows old, his endurance to read books becomes dull. Now, he reads easy novel. The third one told that his concentration was getting bad. So, he went out taking a walk and looked at green tree, and gave his eye a rest. Now, he read classic books like “Goeth” ,“Homer” of a Greek orthodox and Bible. The fourth one told that she read some books which did not to finish reading yet.
(Tae)

The report of the meeting on 17/10/2015

There were six attendees, including an observer living in Australia, at the meeting on October 17.
First, we talked freely. They are summarized as follows;
1) The first member told that he had been busy to make a contract for selling his old house in which he and his family had lived before. It is a provisional contract so far. After he makes the land flat, and his counterpart is admitted to get a bank loan, it would be an official contract.
2) The second one told that he had been to a car dealer for inspection of his automatic car. Its condition was good, so it needed only to be changed car oil and a filter of the air conditioner. It took only 30 minutes. Fuel efficient of his car is very good, 25 km per liter on the expressway.
3) The third one talked about an article of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2015. It was awarded to the Belarusian author Ms. Svetlana Alexievich for her writing about the Soviet Union and its collapse, including the Soviet war in Afghanistan and the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.
4) The fourth one talked about fireworks held in her area. Those fireworks could be seen well from her house, but she did not see them this time. She used to enjoy them every year in her childhood. But she is not so interested in them any more, but feels bothersome with the regulation of traffic.
5) The last one talked about her second purchase of a mah-jong table. Her father asked her to buy and send one more for his friend. Payment was allowed only by credit card. So she had to use her card. She will ask her father's friend to pay the expense back to her when she visits her father.
Next we moved to Today's topic, "Group discussion". The topics provided were: ① What sports or enrichment lessons do you want to make your children (or grandchildren) to take? ② What is the point you place emphasis on when you make your self-PR? ③ Which do you want, a clock to show the past or a clock to show the future? ④ What game software would you take with you if you would go to a desert island? By the way, a member said he used to try to "PDCA" (plan, do, check, and action) at work. It sounds nice. I'd like to make use of this method in my daily life.
See you next time. (Yuki)

The report of the meeting on 10/10/2015

There were six attendees for today's lesson.
The following are summary of the topics for their special behavior in this week ;
First attendee had a luck to eat delicious autumn fruits of pear and grape fruit that were gifted from relatives and persimmon harvested from her garden trees.
Second one gave us interesting information about “Ignoble Prize (not Nobel Prize); for this year, Dr. Kimata (Japanese) was awarded for his research “ Study of Kiss”: Skin allergy getting recovered due to immune system of couple of passionate kiss. For 1997th, “Tamagotti-- BANDAI Co." and for 2002th "Bowlingual --Takara toy".
Third one went to see movie on Thursday in a cinema theater “Jurassic park” and had a good time but surprised with so few audience of 2 including him.
Fourth one took bus to go to E.C.C.and had a bad time in the bus because passengers of more than 20 junior high school students were so naughty that they chatted loudly and made mischiefs for destination display and so on.
The fifth one visited her piano teacher for 1 hr driving and after that wanted to visit others but had a difficulty to find out her location notwithstanding asking the police man (individual information rule).
The last one talked about the previous Olympic Game in TOKYO which was held 51years ago on Oct. 10 falling on the date of today and also mentioned his opinion about the forthcoming one (in 2020th) that Olympic game should return to the original philosophy in Greek era “ individual participation independent from the nations”.
Regarding Today's topic: Dementia will rise in the future Task1: Each sentence was read and translated into Japanese one by one. Task 2: Attendees expressed their own opinion to the questions and the counter comments given thereby were discussed.
(There was no enough time to complete all tasks but up to No.3.)
(Jun)

The report of the meeting on 03/10/2015

We had five attendees at the today’s session.
Firstly we exchanged the latest news of each participant.
One participant talked about the population increase in his living area because new neighbor has moved into there although the population in Japan starts to decrease.
Another attendee talked about her routine house work. And she added her family owns four ladders which consist from high ladder and low ladder.
The third person ate out at some local restaurant. He ordered a combination menu of grilled saury. He also expressed his opinion that Japanese eating way is different from foreigner's way and Japanese way gives a good affect our health.
The fourth participant will join a class reunion the next day. She talked about her clothes which she was planning to wear. She said she had booked room at a business hotel, because she probably will not able to return her home the same day due to a few bus services.
The last one ate the dish cooked in a pot, so-called “Nabe-mo”. In winter season we Japanese eat this food very often as it is not only well balanced and healthy, but also of many sorts of taste such as salt taste or kimchi taste.
After the first session we did exchanged each opinion concerning the topic below;
What are three things? What is one thing?
1 What are three things you bring, if you go to a desert island? Why?
2 What are three things you bring, if you go to foreign country (countries) for sightseeing or business? Why?
3 What are the most useful things the human beings invented ever? Why?
4 What is one thing the modern people leave to future children? Why?
5 What is one strong point (長所) you can be proud of to others? Why?
Here are several unique answers;
As for question No.1, transfer machine which can change salt water into fresh water, a blue seat, or a large number of matches.
As for question No.2, a pair of earplugs made in Japan, a medicine named “Dokuso-gan”
As for question No.3, a match, letter (character) , an airplane
As for question No.4, education system, no debt, good environment.
Because of running out of time, we skipped the question No.5.
(Taka)

The report of the meeting on 26/09/2015

There were four attendees at the meeting on September 26.
First, we talked freely. They are summarized as follows;
The first member told a good piece of news. He passed the proficiency test for translators. He got the third grade certification. He will start his professional translation work.
The second one also talked about his happy news. He will have his second grandchild next year. However, he is worried about response of his first grandson, two and a half years old, after he meets his baby sister or brother.
The third one talked about her work in her garden with a lot of tall goldenrods. She had to cut them by electric mower. She has four persimmon trees in her garden too. The color of persimmons have turned orange from green. They are tasty, although it is a little hard for her to take care of those trees.
The fourth one talked about her trial lessons of a Skype English conversation school. She was impressed by the advice of a teacher, "Remember, the most important thing in English is to use good grammar, vocabularies, and speak confidently."
Next we moved to Today's topic, "Group discussion". The topics provided were:
① Which do you prefer, real books or an electronic reader?
② Which do you prefer, being single or being married?
③ Which do you prefer when you buy something, paying by cash or paying by credit card?
④ Which do you prefer, DVD rental or going to theater?
By the way, about books we all prefer reading real books. How about you? See you next time.
(Yuki)

The report of the meeting on 19/09/2015

There were 4 participants on September 19.
First of all, each member told main news. The first person told that his relative visited him and about ESNS, News Conference, and face book. Second person told that his neighbor’s child was molested on her way from school, but it ended in failure fortunately. The third person told about his hometown “Uji city”. The fourth Person told about receiving her eye check twice a year.
Today’s topic was about English. One person came in mind America, liberality, and freedom. The other person imaged International language and standard language when he heard English. The third person told that he did not like English, but after he retired, he started studying English. The fourth person told she was interested in English to read the literature books in English.
In the next question, one man learnt English for the English examination, but now learns it to protect dementia, and to kill the time. The other man leant English because he had a friend speaking English, and nowadays, he received the examination of professional translation three times, and his third reason why he learnt English is for traveling the world alone without tour. The third person told he could not communicate in English when he visited Canada with his wife, but he had a trouble a taxi driver when he went to New York last fall. Then, he could communicate well with a taxi driver. The third person told about listening to Far East Network , and she wanted to understand World news.
In the third question, one man disgusted to learn English, but an American gave him a chocolate. Next man told, asked about Australian slung of toilet. So, he told us about the way to call toilet in the world.
The next question of English adjective was answered, “good marks”, “any credit card”, “Beautiful pronunciation”, etc.
In the fourth question, one man could learn English with no charge, and his company paid for him. The other man paid lots of money and times to learn English. He also studied English at English school, through PC, and radio. The third man answered that he went to a private school, but he gave up attending the school for bankruptcy, and now he goes to English class which pays 200 yen once a week. There was no teacher, but it’s class is useful for him.
That’s all.
(Tae)

The report of the meeting on 12/09/2015

There were five attendees for today's lesson.
The following are summary of the topics for their special behavior in this week ;
First attendee took his hasband to the hospital for his doctor's check up of his disease, currently suffering.
Second one had an unhappy and careless mistake that she happened to tread her glass and broke it at the nouse part, and had it repaired at the glass shop.
Third one talked about the unusual example of license number of car ; “4989”, “39-39”(thank you) for 2 cars having the same (somewhere different maybe) and “SUE 801” ( nickname and birthday;Australian case).
Fourth one has been taking physical exercise(radio exercise) for his fitness at the town park , together with his friends, including” level 3 exercise” that is a little bit harder and higher speed movement in addition to the usual” Level 1 and 2”.
The last one talked about the current situation of refugees from Syria. Germany and Austria announced to accept them tentatively but still problem exists a lot unsolved.
Regarding Today's topic: Earth has lost half its trees because of humans Task1 : Each sentence was red and translated into Japanese one by one. Task 2: Each questions given were answered by attendees one by one Task 3: Attendees expressed their own opinion to the questions and the counter comments given therby were discussed . (There was not enough time to complete all tasks but up to No.3 .)
(Jun)

The report of the meeting on 05/09/2015

We had six participants at the today’s meeting. A new comer joined to today's session, so we exchanged greetings and introduced ourselves in turn.
As for the first session, “What’s new”, the first person talked about the recent torrential rain in his area. The road in front of his house was flooded and rain water was over 20 cm on the road. However, fortunately his house got no damages because it stands on the higher place.
The second person bought an extension cable and extension USB hub at a 1 dollar shop. She also mentioned the new OS. She bought a new PC coming with Windows 10, which enables a computer to boot more quickly than the previous OS, Vista.
The third attendee has set up his own Face Book recently and asked to access his page if others has an account of FB.
The fourth female enjoyed talking with her old friend via Skype. The friend lives in Canada now. They met around 10 years ago on searching- friend site on Skype.
The fifth person elaborated his job and sign language. After retired from job as bank clerk he set up his company which provides customers the service of teaching how to handle a computer at customer’s home.
There was no enough time for the last person to talk about his latest event so he skipped it.
Today’s topic was “An Impromptu speech by Roulette.” We initially planned to share the screen of the chairperson, but could not. So the chairperson run the Excel macro program on his computer and told other attendees the word which the Excel chose. The main purpose of this practice is to speak something in English without long thinking-time, or to think while speaking and speak while thinking. Each participant did this practice three times, and then time run out.
Six participants are a bit too many to give each participant enough time for speaking English. When more than six people will attend the meeting, they will be divided into two or more groups from the next time on.
(Taka)

The report of the meeting on 29/08/2015

There were five attendees at the meeting on August 29.
First, we talked freely. They are summarized as follows;
The first member said he had attended an English conversation circle. He also visited his son, went to a shrine, enjoyed lunch, and so on.
The second one spent a busy week, having a medical checkup, writing a summary of last week's FETS meeting, and calling the ambulance because of her husband's worse condition. Fortunately he could leave the hospital in a few days after proper treatment.
The third one talked two topics: one was about something nice that he saw through the web camera during a skype chat. The other was about refugees from middle East countries.
The fourth one talked about the recent destruction of a building in Syria, which is a world heritage, by IS. We lost one of the historically valuable heritages. He wonders what religion is.
The last one talked about a movie "TED2" that she saw. The main point in the movie was whether Ted is a possession (thing) or a human.
Next we moved to Today's topic, "Group discussion". The topics provided were:
① What is the difference between students and members of society.
② Do you have anything that you followed through with in your school days?
③ Why do we have to (or want to) work?
④ Who do you think was the best contributor when Momotaro wiped out ogres?
By the way what do you think humanity is?
See you next time.
(Yuki)

The report of the meeting on 22/08/2015

There are 5 attendances in the meeting on 22 August.
Tonight a newcomer was attended, so we introduced ourselves each other. Then, we talked about What’s news and how to spend the week as usual.
One talked about that she bought a new PC. Other one talked about New Bon festival. Another one told that he went to a barber’s shop. Next a new comer told that he was very busy to take care of his mother. Last one told that she went to Tateyama Alpine Route and also got on a trolley train at Unazuki.
Next, we talked about today’s topic “Junk food”. Everyone already knew the weak points. For example, one told that it contained a lot of calories, and eating plenty of the junk foods was bad for our health, but we really like it so much. When we talked about No. 4 “Tax”, we had the different opinions respectively. Three of them agreed about implying the food the tax, but one of us disagreed to it. In case of question No.5, there was an opinion hesitating to buy it because it has an addictive factor.
One of our members left midway through conversation for having something.
(Tae)

The report of the meeting on 08/08/2015

There were four attendees for today's lesson.
The following are summary of the topics for their special behavior in this week ;
First attendee couldn't do anything that she had wanted to do due to hot weather lasting these days, especially replying to the letters from her friends .
Second one had a one day trip to mountainous area around Mt. Fuji, for escaping from terrible hot weather these days, visiting around Lake Yamanaka, Lake Saiko and Lake Kawaguchi. He could feel comfortable and refleshing due to the coolness attriblutable from the allutitude (approx.600m). He ate Yoshida Udonn : one of his favorite noodle, and dropped in suvenior shop ( hand craft shop) to enjoy old good days toy, balancing Yajirobe and Bird Whistle.
Third one made presentation of her previous trip to Taiwan by using pictures taken during the trip, in cooporation of her friend at SES. She had somewhat trouble to prepare the materials for the visual purpose .
The last one went to look at the Renngeji Park Fire work festival, held on August 7th (hanabi nohi; specified for every year for easy memory). It was really nice,beautiful and bright color, which made people deeply moved , but it was quite short moment and nothing left afterwords, but in vain.
Regarding Today's topic: Man gets world's first bionic eye Task1 : Each sentence was red and translated into Japanese one by one. Task 2: Each questions given were answered by attendees one by one Task 3: Attendees expressed their own opinion to the questions and the counter comments given therby were discussed . (There was not enough time to complete all tasks but up to No.5 .)
(Jun)

The report of the meeting on 01/08/2015

There were five attendees including a newcomer from Australia in the meeting of August 1.
First, we introduced ourselves to each other, and talked freely. They are summarized as follows:
1) The visitor has been studying English for about 7 weeks in Melbourne, Australia. She has a working visa, so near future she would like to have a job there. She said it was really cold in winter there.
2) Another kindly told he'd like to give his time to two members who would make a presentation of his trip, and who had been absent from two previous meetings, for the meeting has a time limitation.
3) Another talked that she had had a little more free time this week. But she didn't go anywhere, and just stayed home because of the hot weather. Instead she read a newspaper. An article of a drug criminal in Mexico caught her eyes. Dog drug investigators were also impressive for her.
4) Another made a presentation of his trip to Germany with his wife. He showed and explained some pictures taken in each cities along the Romantic Road they visited. It was his second visit to Germany, 30 years after his first visit.
5) The other said her father had been sick in the hospital. That's why she could not attend the meetings. From now on it may be harder and harder for her to attend the meeting constantly, but she would like to try to attend FETS as many as possible.
Next we moved to Today's topic, "Role play". The scenario was "Trip from Japan to Thailand." There were three problems provided. According to the instructions, we played roles, and discussed our own experiences related to those problems. Then we did the word game "Who are you?"
I hope the visitor likes the meeting, and will be a member of FETS. See you next time.
(Yuki)

The report of the meeting on 25/07/2015

We had three attendees.
First of all, we exchanged episodes which happened recently around us. One of them talked about her husband’s illness and her taking care of him. Another attendee talked the trip to Germany. He took many photos and showed them to other participants. We shared his computer screen. He mainly explained the very famous castle in Germany, called Neuschwanstein Castle. The castle is one of the most attractive tourist spots in Germany. Many tourists travel along the Romantic Road and the castle is located at the end of the road. He took so many photos that we could not see all photos only once, so we will have another opportunity where we enjoy seeing them.
After that we expressed own opinions about “water” and discussed them. I will pick up just one example. One of questions is the follows; What comes to mind when you hear the word ‘water’? All attendees reply like this. “Water is very important for human beings. Without it we cannot live. About 70 % of our body consists of water. We can survive for 7-10 days if we can take water. ”
In summer many Japanese suffer from heat stroke, especially aged people possibly die from heat stroke. Taking water is very critical for preventing it.
(Taka)

The report of the meeting on 18/07/2015

The reason why I chose this content was that the text was written with an easy sentence. So, I dare chose it, because it is the first experience for me to take the chair. But I did not actually know well about British royal family, therefore, I was interested in this content.
Naming of Royal family is so complicated and the plural names are showed. For example, British Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, Diana Prince of Wales etc. their naming is showed even the places. Also, Prince William has plural names like British Duke, Prince William.
It was interesting. Especially, in case of a new born baby’s middle name, I was surprised that British people had higher interest than usual case. The people did not forget Diana’s reputation. The content of the text showed how giving a name to the new princess middle name attracted the citizen. In fact, the news of the Royal family will bring us often from now on. A formal name was good chance to learn.
(Tae)

The report of the meeting on 11/07/2015

There were four attendees for today's lesson.
The following are summary of the topics which were given for their special behavior in this week ;
First attendee was very busy this week with ; Arrangement of the pictures taken in the last trip to the .European countries, Document proceedings such as registration of health insurance card /
Second one talked about the stone bead that was purchased with discount rate during the trip to Taiwan. It consists of jewel(Hokuto seki ) in which include” Radium “ effective for keeping fit.
Third one talked about the phobia possessed by himself; acrophobia and todo(big frog)phobia, since he was unable to parpicipate last week because of his back pain.
The last one was concerned with the on-going situation of Greek default problem.He was afraid that this problem might make bad influence to recovery of Japanese economy.
Regarding Today's topic: Zimbabwe's new currency is U. S. dollar Task1 : Each sentence was red and translated into Japanese one by one. Task 2: Each questions given were answered by attendees one by one Task 3: Attendees expressed their own opinion to the questions and the counter comments given therby were discussed . (There was not enough time to complete all tasks but up to No.4 .)
(Jun)

The report of the meeting on 04/07/2015

There were four attendees in the meeting of July 4, but one left soon because he had a pain in his low back.
First, we talked about what's new, how was the week, or others. They are summarized as follows:
1) One said her week had been a little busy. She had a tea ceremony meeting. She wore kimono in the morning, and went to the community center, where once a month she teaches the tea ceremony. She enjoyed the meeting.
2) Another talked about coupons with 20 percent premium bonus which were provided by his city. If you buy 10,000 yen worth of coupons, you can buy any goods including food equivalent to 12,000 yen at any shops in the city. Compared to the interest of the bank, it is the high-interest rate. He wanted to get some, and stood in a long line of many people waiting for the coupons. Unfortunately he could not get any, because coupons were sold out.
3) The other had nothing special this week. However she said to one of members that she would like to show the member how to use some skype functions, using her laptop computer, when they meet next time.
Next we moved to Today's topic, "Phobia". We answered some questions provided in the text, and discussed about them. By the way, "Do you have any phobias?" See you next time.
(Yuki)

The report of the meeting on 27/06/2015

There were four attendees in the meeting of June 27.
First, we talked about what's new, how was the week, or others. They are summarized as follows:
1) One said her week had not been special. She lived her life as usual. When it is fine, she gets up earlier in the morning (about five A.M.) to get rid of weeds or to trim garden trees. This week was not good weather, so she got up a little later.
2) Another talked about a recent news about that the voting age will be lowered to 18 from 20 next year. He says it is good, but Japanese young people should also have responsibility for their behavior as the age of majority.
3) Another said he had been very busy, because he had received a lot of emails from foreign people who are interested in the FETS chat. He also has a plan to take an examination. Additionally, in this season he is busy in harvesting vegetables in his garden every morning.
4) The other talked about her tour of Taiwan. She shared some pictures taken there, using a screen sharing function.
Next we moved to Today's topic, "Mobile phones in class lower test scores". First, we read and translated the article sentence by sentence. Next, we answered some questions, then we told our own opinions related to the article and had a discussion.
By the way, "Would it be easy for you to be offline for 24 hours?" See you next time.
(Yuki)

The report of the meeting on 20/06/2015

There were 4 regular participants.
For “How was this week?” or “What's new?”, one participant favourably gave us special presentation of her trip to European countries (Rumania and Bulgaria) by using her photos. Last week she did it briefly once but again kindly repeated it in detail this week in response to our request .
Second participant talked about her trip to Taiwan for 3 nights and 4days , taking route of Takao through Taipei.
Third one took his pet ( dog) to the hospital because he looked something unusual with his left eye. For the result, his pet was not so serious as he was worried about and got recovered the next day.
Forth one talked about his expected trip to European countries (Germany) from July 15 for one week instead of previouly planned trip to North European countries.
Time was taken so long unintentionally for the above that today's topic: “Mobile phone in class lower test scores” was unable to be touched at all. Next week the topic would be provably discussed.
(Jun)

The report of the meeting on 13/06/2015

Two members attended the session and others were absent today, because others had something to do.
One of the participants visited to Romania and Bulgaria, so today we talked about her travel. She took so many pictures while she traveled the both countries. We shared her computer screen.
After leaving japan and transiting at Hamad International Airport (New Doha International Airport), she landed on Romania.During its long history, Romania was invaded by many countries such as the Roman Empire, Germany, Turkey and Russia. Due to its history of being invaded several languages are spoken in Romania. In the first village she saw the houses, whose roofs are different if the ethnic group is different. For example, each houses have different-shape roofs such as triangle and trapezoid. Three things/people we Japanese think of about Romania are Nadia Elena Com?neci, Dracula, and Nicolae Ceau?escu. She saw the building where Ceau?escu lived and worked.
The second country she visited is Bulgaria. One of the most famous and attractive sight-seeing spot in Bulgaria is Rila Monastery. This is the world cultural heritage. The rose festival is also very well-known among tourists. She enjoyed the dance by the local people. They all wore the ethnic clothes.
Today only one member except for her joined the session. So I proposed her that she would pick up 20 pictures and would explain her trip to other members next week at the first session “How’s it going? What’s new? Talk about anything.”
(Taka)

The report of the meeting on 06/06/2015

There were three attendees in the meeting of June 6.
First, we talked about what's new, how was the week, or others. They are summarized as follows:
1) One talked about a website where you can find chat friends overseas. He registered himself and had some chat with three people each, a Chinese, an Iranian and a Filipina.
2) Another talked about his cementing work to repair the damaged stone hedge surrounding his garden. The work was tough for him, so he got tired and had aches and pains in the body. It will take him a few more days to finish it.
3) The other talked about her trip to Taiwan with her friends. She will leave Japan next weekend, and will visit Kaohsiung, Taichung and Taipei.
Next we moved to "Today's topic"; (A) Making a short story of a picture in relay, and (B) Reading and translating an article, filling the blanks, and answering questions and telling our opinions related to the article. Its title was "LGBT SURVEY". According to the article, "Many people in Japan have recently begun to recognize sexual diversity." See you next time.
(Yuki)

The report of the meeting on 30/05/2015

Four members came to the session.
The first person talked about the trip to Bulgaria and Romania. She was very busy today because of preparing for the trip. She was looking forward to seeing the rose festival and eating yogurt in Bulgaria. However she also worried about the security in Rumania. Unemployment rate is high in Rumania, especially young people are hard to get job. So there might be some social instability in Rumania, according to her.
The topic of the second person was that the price of green tea leaf has fallen to the lowest in these ten years. The price of new green tea leaf was usually high till ten years ago because the new green tea leaf was rare and customer could only enjoy drinking the tea by new leaves in this season. However since the technique of preserving the new leaf has progressed on the one hand and the amount of consumption has decreased on the other hand, the price of the new green tea leaves has dropped. Now tea leaf farmers are trying to develop new production of green tea leaf.
The third attendees talked that some English language school went bankrupt. She has studied English at the school for long lime. Because of the decreasing of the students at the school it was forced to close the class. She wants to continue studying English, so she is looking another way to study English.
Today’s topic was “The Most Unfortunate Names in Britain.” The article from ““Breakingnewsenglish” introduces some bizarre names, for example, Hazel Nutt, Jo King, Justin Case. Or some Americans have strange names such as Carrie Oakey and Bill Board. In Japan some Japanese have also a peculiar name, such as小田麻里（おだまり）、岡絵里（おかえり）、佐藤敏雄（さとうとしお）and 大場佳代（おおばかよ）. When each family name and first name is pronounced separately and individually, they are all normal. However some combination of first name and last name makes the names strange. The owner of these names feel embarrassed when they introduce themselves. The article says parents should be more careful when they name their children.
(Taka)

The report of the meeting on 23/05/2015

There were four attendees for today's lesson.
The following are summary of the topics which were given for their special behavior in this week ;
First attendee took a countermeasure for getting rid of cockroaches by placing special chemicals(mixture of boric acid, small pieces of flesh onion,----) around the room corners.
Second one talked about the alumni association of senior high shool (Fukuyama, hiroshima). She attended once at the age of 47 years old and now wondering whether or not to attend from now on.
Third one went to Tokyo for the purpose of taking procedures of receiving foreign currency. Next day he got down due to sore throat ,snivel and bad cough because of vairus in Tokyo.
The last one did gardening work as usual one, especially disinfection for trees, coming out lots of bug(caterpillars), using antiseptic solution(Sumition and Marathon chemicals).
Regarding Today's topic: Bullied Kids at higher risk of mental health problem
Task1 : Each sentence was red and translated into Japanese one by one.
Task 2: Each questions given were answered by attendees one by one
Task 3: Attendees expressed their own opinion to the questions and the counter comments given therby were discussed . (There was not enough time to complete all tasks but up to No.4 .)
(Jun)

The report of the meeting on 16/05/2015

There were five attendees including a newcomer in the meeting of May 16. After introducing each other, we talked about what's new, how was the week, or others.
1) One talked about a chat room where he enjoyed conversation with an Australian. On the Internet, there are some kinds of online chat rooms, in which people enjoy chatting in 45 different languages. Then he suggests that FETS will open its own chat room.
2) Another talked about the recent rail way accident in Philadelphia in the U.S. Long time ago, he had been in the U.S. on business, and had gotten on board the Amtrak. The train looked old and not so good. However, he didn't try to drive a car, because driving lane in the U.S. is opposite to that in Japan. California is now considering adopting a high-speed train system from other countries. China, France, Japan and others are trying to bid for it.
3) Another said this week she did cooked three meals every day and pulled weeds as usual. However, she visited a tea ceremony which is held in the community center once a month by each of her four friends in turn. They love the tea ceremony.
4) Another said her home is in the residential area surrounded by nature. When she came home the other day, there was a raccoon at the gate of her home, and she caught its eyes. Then it ran away. A month ago, she saw two monkeys walking on the telephone wire. Furthermore, two months ago she saw another raccoon crossing her garden. Its skin condition was bad, getting a bald patch.
5) The other talked about her 78-year-old translation teacher, who got cancer a few years ago. Thanks to his strong will and proper, good medical treatment, he has been surviving. But a few days ago, he said he have to take an treatment (operation?) by the gamma ray knife, because another tumor has been found above his left eye inside his head. She are worried about him.
Next we moved to "Today's topic"; (A) Making a short story of a picture in relay, and (B) Reading and translating an article, filling the blanks, and answering questions and telling our opinions related to the article. Its title was "Clinton Announces Candidacy". If elected, she would be the first female U.S. president. The presidential election will be a focus of world attention. See you next time.
(Yuki)

The report of the meeting on 09/05/2015

Four members came to the session.
In the first part, we mainly talked about so-called Golden Week. One member stayed home and spent usually because she does not like the traffic jam. During this holiday many Japanese go out by car, so the roads are very crowded.
Another participant also did not anything special during the holiday. However his eldest son came to his house so he and his family enjoyed reunion.
The third person’s daughter and her husband visited her home. It was quite quick visit, namely they left their house in Okayama prefecutre at around 6 a.m. and arrived her house at around 1 p.m. then after staying just four hours they returned to their house.
The last attendees talked about a new comer whom he talked at the explanation meeting before session. The new comer, male and living in Bundaberg in Queensland, Australia, is expected to attend to our session the next week. He hope to join the beginner’s course, it will reopen.
On the today’s topic, we discussed “the Amazon”, e.g. the Amazon River and the Amazon rainforest. Now we human beings and other living things are facing a very serious problem, that is to say, environmental destructions. The global warming is one of them and it is getting more serious than before. In this situation, in order to reduce the carbon dioxide on the earth, we have to decrease to carbon dioxide emission on the one hand. On the other hand we need to rely on trees to change it to oxygen. The rainforests, especially the Amazon surely play critical role in this process.
Each participant show their knowledge, information and opinion about how we protect the rainforests. One of ideas was that the solution is not on national base, but on the international or global base the problem should be addressed. Today’s topic was a bit difficult, but we had a good opportunity to discuss the topic in English.
In the last session we did the word game “Who are you?”
(Taka)

The report of the meeting on 02/05/2015

There were four attendees for today's lesson.
The following are summary of the topics which were given for their special behavior in this week ; First attendee did'nt do anything special for this week, but did usual home affairs and gardening and is not special planning to go any resort ares for this golden week holidays.
Second one is now considering whether or not to participate in the Skype ECS( English conversation program) managed by DMM. Com. The program has been set so easy and covenient that the charge is \4,000/month for the lesson of 25minutes/day at any convenient time(but reservation required). There are teachers of different nationality such as U. K. Australia, U.S. And so on., although developing countries like Philipin are major. Anyhow,She is going to take a trial lesson (2 times) for free of charge.
Third one introduced Yurukyara of Sagamihara city “ Sagamin” by displaying a figure on the web. He is a boy wearing a hat outlining the curve of Sagami river, having flower of hydrangea and bird of skylark.
The last one was invited and attended the party held and sponsored once a year by the company which he retired for the fixed age from. He enjoyed and had a good time to see lots of good and old friends there.
Regarding Today's topic: 60 is the new middle age, not 50 Task1 : Each sentence was red and translated into Japanese one by one. Task 2: Each questions given were answered by attendees one by one Task 3: Attendees expressed their own opinion to the questions and the counter comments given therby were discussed . (There was not enough time to complete all tasks but up to No.4 .)
(Jun)

The report of the meeting on 25/04/2015

There were four attendees in the meeting of April 25.
First, we talked freely. 1) One said she had stayed home almost all the week. She cleaned the windowpanes of her house. There are about 34 panels of glasses, so it took her 3 days to finish cleaning them. She was tired but felt refreshed.
2) Another talked about the recent incident of "the drone" which had been found on the roof of the prime minister's office. So far, Japan does not have regulations for flying drones at low altitudes. Such an unmanned aircraft may potentially have both good use and bad use. We hope good use of it.
3) Another said he had cooked "seasoned rice with bamboo shoots and deep fried tofu". He believes a saying "Life span will be extended another 75 days if you eat seasonal food". He said his bamboo-shoot rice had tasted so good.
4) The other said that on a beautiful sunny day, she had washed a large kotatsu-blanket by stepping on it in the bathtub with warm water and detergent.
Next we moved to "Today's topic";
(A) Making a short story of a picture in relay, and
(B) Reading and translating an article, filling the blanks and arranging the words in the correct order, and talking about the matters related to the article. Its title was "Tracking the tastes of tourists". According to the article, Japanese subcultures seem to be attracting a healthy interest from foreign visitors.
See you next time.
(Yuki)

The report of the meeting on 18/04/2015

Two persons came to the session.
We did firstly “What’s new. How’s it going”.
The first attendee talked the two-day trip to Metropolitan Tokyo. The purpose of the trip was to see her son and her old friend. She visited “Shinjuku Gyoen”, where many flowers bloomed. She also went up to the observation room in Metropolitan government by elevator. It was fine weather, so she could enjoy the blue sky and very beautiful scenery. She usually goes to Tokyo once a year. Going and staying in Tokyo is quiet fun for her.
The topic that the second one talked was his recent reading. He has a lot of books which he bought when he was young. He wanted to read these books and to recycle them after finishing reading them. There is a life style called “断捨離”, which means live simply with a only necessary thing or a minimum stuff. So he tries to reject to buy or have new things, throw away unnecessary things, and be free from desires to own.
We discussed “bicycle” in the second session. The word “bicycle” originally comes from French, that is, “bi” means “two”, “cycle” means “wheel”. We discussed the advantages and disadvantages of the bicycle, what function is needed if we ride it more conveniently, and whether or not the cyclists should sit a riding test before they can drive it.
The final session was “Word game--Japanese sayings/Four-Chinese-character idioms”. This was the first time for her, so she could not do well this time, but she will be better soon.
(Taka)

The report of the meeting on 11/04/2015

There were four attendees for today's lesson.
The following are summary of the topics which were given for their special behavior in this week ;
First attendee did garden- cleaning and weeding in her spare time,and disposing of old metal to Brazilian dealers.
Second one talked about her studying status of computer soft wear “ Omega T”(language dictionary).
Third one had a walk and watched various beautiful flowers, such as ground pink planted on the river bank, and pansy,violet, peach blossom, wisteria in the park.
The last one talked about transional chang of cherry blossom , which have already been scatered under the chilly and rainy weather condition, and got dirty on the ground.
Regarding Today's topic:Japanese government to play matchmaker
Task1 : Each sentence was red and translated into Japanese one by one.
Task 2: Each questions given were answered by attendees one by one .
Task 3: Attendees expressed their own opinion to the questions and the counter comments given therby were discussed . (There was not enough time to complete all tasks but up to No.5 .)
(Jun)

The report of the meeting on 04/04/2015

Four persons attended to the session. They are all regular member.
We began our session with “What’s new? Or how’s it going?”
The first person talked about “My Number System”, which means all Japanese have an own identification number and will be introduced by Japanese government in the coming October. This number will make the administration more efficient and transparent in these areas such as taxation or social welfare. However there are also demerits, for instance it being stolen and being used for crime. Plese refer to the following site: http://www.gov-online.go.jp/tokusyu/mynumber/
The second attendees visited a museum in Aichi prefecture and enjoyed “Royal Academy of Arts, London”. A range of fantastic pictures are exhibited there from a masterly painter, William Turner to John Constable. She said she was really moved to see their paints.
Please visit the site: http://www.chunichi.co.jp/event/royal-academy/
The third person visited her daughter’s house last week and enjoyed staying. she also went to an attractive site, Nabanano-Sato where she viewed a great number of tulips, daffodils and cherry blossoms in the daytime. In the night another main attraction, e.g. unbelievable illumination of LEDs enchanted her eyes. She said illumination imitated the Niagara Fall was awesome. Please see the following site: http://www.nagashima-onsen.co.jp/nabana/index.html/
Today’s topic was “Youth”. We tried to describe the word “youth” with adjectives. “splendid, flexible, vigorous, full of dream, vital, young, green, innocent, fresh, bittersweet” --these are adjectives which attendees imaged to hear “youth”.
Attendees all belong to old generation, and they often tend to be severe toward young generation when old generation compare their adolescent period to today’s youth's. However, today’s youth (=young people) have not only bad aspects but also many good aspects too.
Pablo Picasso said: "Youth has no age." This means; even if their real age is high, everyone can still live youth life if they are mentally young. When people have interests to many things and don not lose curiosity, they keep their juvenescence.
(Taka)

The report of the meeting on 28/03/2015

There were three attendees for today's lesson.
The following are summary of the topics which were given for their special behavior in this week ;
First attendee talked that she went to Nagoya to see her brothers, enjoying chat with them, and she received the report of physical check- up from the pospital showing the result of measurement of “cholesterol”, trying to do her best for further decreasing the value by continuing physical exercise at the jim.
Second one talked about his pet (dog, Labrador retriever) that he had his pet injected (canine madness: vaccination against hydrophobia) at the annimal hospital, taking care of the pet recently instead of his brother living in an apartment not allowing to keep pets .
Third one talked about cherry blossom-viewing walk that cherry blossom was a little bit earlier for full bloom but it was beautiful on the background of blue sky , associating it with Japanese spiritual symbol (Patriotism).
Regarding Today's topic: Money makes you a bad person:
Task1 : Each sentence was read and translated into Japanese one by one.
Task 2: Each questions given were answered by attendees one by one.
Task 3: Attendees expressed their own opinion to the questions and the counter comments given therby were discussed .
(Jun)

The report of the meeting on 21/03/2015

We had four regular members at today’s session.
The session started with “What’s new? How’s it this week.”
The first person visited the grave where her ancestors are sleeping because the 21st March is the Spring Equinox Day.
The second attendant talked about Carthage and the war between it and the Roman Empire. This war is called the Punic Wars. The reason why he talked about Carthage is that there was the terrorism attack in Theunis, the capital of Tunisia, and there are historical remains of Carthage here.
The third person also mentioned the Spring Equinox Day. And she planted some seedlings such as Komatsuna spinach because it is getting warm.
The last person went to the Driver’s License Testing and Issuing Center for his wife to exchange the foreign driver’s license to Japanese one. According to his explanation there is the agreement between Japan and Australia about driver’s license. People who have the Australian driver’s license need not sit both the written and the driving test. The only requirements are indefectible documents.
The first task in today’s topic was to explain the signs such as “Beware of Dog”, “First Aid”, and “Smoke Free”. The meaning of “Smoke Free” is that anybody cannot smoke in this area. It does not mean people can smoke freely here.
In the task two, we did the followings;
1)Read and translate a news article related to the merge of two convenience stores;
2)Fill the blanks with words which are seen in the article;
3)Answer the questions and tell your opinions related to the passage.
Nowadays the convenience stores nearly have reached saturation, so each convenience store operator has to create its originality to win sever competition.
Without a short break we moved to the final task, “English quick composition”.
(Taka)

The report of the meeting on 14/03/2015

There were three attendees in the meeting of March 14.
First, we talked freely.
1) One talked about lunch, the "Gyoza (dumpling) Set", which he had eaten in a Chinese restaurant he had dropped into during his running the other day. It's price was 680 yen that day, specially discounted 100 yen from usual 780 yen, because his city became the largest producer of Gyoza in Japan.
2) Another talked about what she had seen in a bakery. There were a lot of customers standing in three lines at three cash registers. She was also waiting for her turn in one of the lines. Suddenly an old man pushed into the line unfairly. So a young man in the line gave the old man an instruction not to do such rude behavior. Although the old man was too selfish to obey the advice, the young man's brave action should be braised.
3) The other said she bought a software to reduce blue light emitted from the PC screen in order to keep her eyes' condition better. Blue light seems to be strong enough to reach the back of the eye, which is very harmful. However, she knows that going to bed earlier should be given priority above all.
Next we moved to "Today's topic"; Discussion about driving. By the way, what does driving mean to you? See you next time.
(Yuki)

The report of the meeting on 07/03/2015

There were four attendees in the meeting of March 7.
First, we talked freely about what's new, or how your week was.
1) One talked about her week; for example, headaches which made her hard to do house work, the chorus concert she went to listen to, a medical check-up with a better result especially about osteoporosis thanks to the effective medicine, etc.
2) Another talked about a Community Center Festival which would be held on Saturday and Sunday. An English conversation circle, which he belongs to, would attend the festival. In advance, they made posters and fliers, and set up the room, preparing DVDs, a projector, and so on. They were going to explain their circle, and demonstrate their conversation in English.
3) Another said his week was not very special; supporting his wife, taking care of his grandchild, and so on. However, 2 year-old child is very cute, talking a few words like "No" or "Give me". And he is worried about that his grandchild easily catches a cold at nursery school.
4) The other said about her eye's condition. She had a adzuki-bean-size blister on the white part of her left eye, near the inner corner, which made her uncomfortable in opening and closing the eye. Then she went to see the eye doctor, and underwent an operation to break the blister.
Next we moved to "Today's topic"; (A) Making short stories freely about the pictures on the text, and (B) Reading and translating a passage, filling the blanks, and talking about the matters related to the passage. The title of the passage was "Making Menus Multilingual".
By the way, it is really difficult to read menus and choose dishes at restaurants in foreign countries, isn't it? See you next time. (Yuki)

The report of the meeting on 28/02/2015

There were three attendees for today's lesson.
The following are topics about which were given for this week 's specials;
First attendee talked about his blue feeling owing to the recent terrible murder incidents, in which the murderers motives for killing people is quite mysterious： “ Just for wanting to kill peoples ”, being far beond his normal criteria.
Second one talked about her relaxatiion sightseeing trip to Simonoseki and Moji, for 3days with her friends, enjoying crusing Kanmon strait , historical buildings, Akama shirine sacred to Antoku Emperor and so on.
Third one talked about his participation in the community activities in which PR brochurer is publishing and the layout is now considering.
Regarding Today's topic: Britain says yes to 3-parent babies
Task1 : Each sentence was red and translated into Japanese one by one.
Task 2: Each questions given were answered by attendees one by one
Task 3: Attendees expressed their own opinion to the questions and the counter comments given therby were discussed .
(Jun)

The report of the meeting on 21/02/2015

Four members participated the session.
The first session was “What’s new” as usual. The first member talked about the will of his mother’s. He has finally done all challenges related to inheritance property.
Second person explained her daily life or household chores, such as cleaning, washing and cooking. Another female member talked about loyalty cards which she is collecting points with.
The last person gave information on changing Australian driver’s license to Japanese one.
Then we moved to another session, e.g. reading and translating of the English passage to Japanese, true-or-false task, and discussion. Today’s topic was “Chewing gum”, namely the history of chewing gum, a sort of gum base or its flavor.
Without taking a short break, we turned to “What is this word?”
(Taka)

The report of the meeting on 14/02/2015

There were four attendees in the meeting of February 14.
First, we talked freely about what's new, or how your week was.
1) One said he had started to make a will. He wants to prepare for his family and relatives before his end, thinking how to allocate his asset and property, and the way of his ending, and making a contact list, and so on.
2) Another talked about making miso (soybean paste), which is one of the community center's events in February. First she soaked 3 kilograms of soybeans in water for 2 days. After boiling them, she added salt and koji (rice malt), and minced them by a machine. She uses 80 percent of the whole homemade miso for miso soup, and the rest, for pickles.
3) Another talked about Valentine Chocolate. He does not have good memories about it. During his school days, no one gave him chocolate. During his days as a salaried man, he received some obligation chocolates, but he felt that they were a little troublesome, because he had to return something on White Day.
4) The other said that her daughter had given her six pieces of high quality brand-name chocolate. They were delicious, so she ate all that day. She did not share them with other family members, but she remembered a saying "If you want to be slim, share your food with others."
Next we moved to "Today's topic"; (A) Making short stories freely about the pictures on the text, and (B) Reading and translating a passage, filling the blanks, and talking about the matters related to the passage. The title of the passage was "Japan Approved New Dementia Plan". We continued until time's up.
By the way, "Do you do anything special for keeping yourself fit?" See you next time.
(Yuki)

The report of the meeting on 07/02/2015

There were four attendees for today's lesson.
The following are topics about which were talked for this week 's specials; First attendee talked about her garden work for rose plant in which she compoosted and trimed in place of her hasband , hoping for beautiful bloom next spring .
Second one talked about her one- day- later mamemaki caused by her carless attention to the date of Feb. 6 (Setubun), in which she alon threw beens and ate six (6) beens just corresponding to her age.
Third one talked about his physical condition suffering from pollen alleregy, taking a walk evry morning around the park where a lot of sider threes are planted.
Fourth one talked that he was not good in mood that night because he had caught cold ( the ful) although he already had received the vaccination.
Regarding Today's topic: 90-year-old starts elementary school
Task1 : Each sentence was red and translated into Japanese one by one.
Task 2: Each questions given were answered by attendees one by one
Task 3: Attendees expressed their own opinion to the questions and the counter comments given therby were discussed .
(Jun)

The report of the meeting on 31/1/2015

There were three attendees in today's meeting. Today's chair person had something urgent, so I voluntarily played a role of the chair person.
First, we talked freely.
1) One said she frequently goes to the gym to take some exercise. She pays 5,000 yen per month to the gym which permits her to use equipment of the gym; for example, ping-pong tables, walking machines, etc. Moreover, she can attend classes like a yoga class and an aerobic class. She also talked about shopping in an department store, where she saw many women standing in line for Valentine's chocolate.
2) Another talked about the special reconstruction income tax. Every year he files for the final income tax return. This year he received information that he has to pay 2.1% of the income tax additionally until 2037.
3) The other said that her father often asks her to buy and send something he wants. She usually buys those things from amazon.com because of convenience of searching and delivering goods.
Next we moved to Today's topic - "What if" questions. Without taking a break, we continued answering those "What if" questions, exchanging our opinions with each other, until time's up. By the way, I'd like to share one of questions; "If you had only 24 hours, what would you do?" How about you? What would you do?
See you next time.
(Yuki)

The report of the meeting on 24/1/2015

There were four attendees, including a newcomer, in today's meeting.
First, each of us talked freely, until all the members gathered.
1) One talked about Asian Cup. She said she likes to watch soccer games. Unfortunately the Japanese National team lost the game.
2) Another talked about his computer. He had to take a test through the Internet, but his computer was in a bad condition, which badly influenced the result of the test.
3) Another talked about a very sad and terrible issue that two Japanese men are captured as hostages by IS who demands ransom. Japanese government says that they are trying to make the utmost efforts for the release of the hostages. We hope they will be released soon.
4) The other said that she had nothing good but nothing bad this week.
Then we introduced ourselves to each other.
Next we moved to "Today's topic"; (A) Making short stories freely about the pictures on the text, and (B) Reading and translating a passage, filling the blanks, and talking about the matters related to the passage. The title of the passage was "Android Advisers".
Without taking a break, we practiced promptly making English short sentences, sharing the screen display of the chair person.
A person who attended the meeting for the first time became a member of FETS, which made me happy! See you next time.
(Yuki)

The report of the meeting on 17/1/2015

There were three attendees for today's lesson.
The following are topics about which were talked for this week 's specials;
First attendee talked about her unusual experience happened when she entered a station bathroom in which one elderly Japanese lady and one cleaner(not good at Japanese language) were arugued for some reasons. She guessed it causing from lack of full communication between the two.
Second one gave us some good instructive knowledge of the typical difference between Amerian and English language, such as subway, elevator, ground floor, French fry and drag store for the American versus underground , lift, 2nd floor, crips, chemist(or farmacy) for the English.
Third one talked about his garden and plant trees that plum trees had a lot of buds on the branches and would be in bloom the later week, taking a lot of time and labor to care trees for triming, fertilizing , weeding and so on.
Regarding Today's topic: New Year's resolutions difficult to keep.
Task1 : Each sentence was red and translated into Japanese one by one.
Task 2: Each questions given were answered by attendees one by one
Task 3: Attendees expressed their own opinion to the questions and the counter comments given therby were discussed .
(Jun)

The report of the meeting on 10/1/2015

Three regular members attended to the session.
Today’s session was the first one in 2015, so the chair asked the participants how they spent the winter holiday.
One of the participants lived the same life as the usual. He did not send and get the New Year greeting cards because his mother passed away last year. He also talked about the travel plan to the north Europe such as Norway, Sweden, or Denmark.
Another attendee did many house works at the end of year such as cleaning house, making special dishes for New Year’s Day.
She got and read a free e-book during this winter holiday. She introduced an interesting passage in the e-book: “Yesterday is history. Today is gift. Tomorrow is mystery.” In this context, the word “gift” means “present” that has double meanings. It is a kind of pun.
In the second session, we did roleplaying. We explained the events or Japanese traditional culture, and asked questions about them each other. Following things were the articles we picked up on the events or culture between year’s end days and New Year’s days in Japan; “おせち料理” ,”紅白歌合戦”, ”初日の出.” As the Japanese traditional culture, we choose, explained and questioned and answered these things; “ハンコ”,”歌舞伎”and “日本酒.”
More foreign travelers are expecting to come to Japan from this year on. Many foreigners have got interested in Japanese culture more than before. So we Japanese might be called on communicating with them in foreign languages including English. I hope all members of FETS will go well this year and will be able to brush up English skills.
(Taka)

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